ASU men’s basketball handles business in home tune-up against St. Thomas

TEMPE — ASU men’s basketball worked out some kinks in an 81-66 win over St. Thomas (MN) at Desert Financial Arena on Saturday, lending credence to the idea this team plays to the level of its competition.

“Knew it was gonna be a tough game,” ASU coach Bobby Hurley said postgame. “There are easier teams that you most likely could find to buy than this one, particularly with how we started the season with the difficulty of a lot of these games.

“Just happy to get through the game. Glad we got separation … but we gotta still do better with the turnovers.”

Hurley sent a message to his players early: bad effort on the defensive glass would not be tolerated.

It took just one possession of a lackadaisical boxout attempt by BJ Freeman, if it could be called a boxout attempt, for Hurley to show visible frustration, replacing Freeman with Joson Sanon in a hurry.

When Freeman came back in at the first media timeout, the first thing he did was grab a rebound. The tone-setting paid off as the Sun Devils outrebounded the Tommies 44-29. It was the second time this season ASU has outrebounded its opponent (36-32 vs. Santa Clara).

He wasn’t the culprit behind the Sun Devils’ slow start offensively, however.

After Freeman scored on the first possession and exited soon after, the Sun Devils missed four straight shots. They made their next four before missing the following four, with the offense coming inconsistently due to frequent turnovers.

After the Tommies reached a 19-13 lead about halfway through the first half, ASU locked in with a 15-2 run, which included more of the stifling defense they’ve shown at times early this season.

In the second half, St. Thomas kept the game within striking distance and prevented the Sun Devils from pulling away until the offense was kicked into high gear with about five minutes remaining.

Star freshmen Jayden Quaintance and Joson Sanon were a big part of that, with their two-man game opening up Sanon from deep.

Jayden Quaintance, after recording his first double-double on Sunday, on what the biggest adjustment has been to the college game. pic.twitter.com/fG9L8iREdy

— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) November 18, 2024

How did ASU’s star freshmen look in their fifth game?

Quaintance continues to look like one of the best freshman defenders in the country (three blocks and one steal on Sunday), and he has improved in other areas as well, finishing with the first double-double of his young career (13 points and 14 rebounds).

He’s best suited as a play finisher near the rim offensively, rather than creating away from it, which the Sun Devils had figured out for stretches. His best moments on that end came off first-half assists from Adam Miller he paid off with dunks.

“The paint’s always open. It’s always good when you can get easy buckets,” Quaintance said postgame. “Especially if you play inside out, it kinda gets everybody going, because all our bigs are willing to pass out, hit guys on the perimeter.

“So it’s always good to get the pick-and-roll going, it gets everybody going as a result.”

Quaintance also had his first made 3-pointer of his collegiate career on his sixth attempt this season, which came on a no-look pass from freshman wing Amier Ali.

nice look away dish from amier ali to jayden quaintance for the first made 3 of his young career pic.twitter.com/hmJ3zTNjHi

— Damon Allred (@iamdamonallred) November 18, 2024

Sanon (18 points, nine rebounds) flashed more of his shot-making prowess, knocking down 6 of 11 shots (3 of 5 from 3).

“He looks like he’s got that look, and he’s really confident playing the way I expect him to play,” Hurley said.

He entered the game with five assists and two turnovers in four games, which is an adequate mark for a player of his archetype. But the 0-assist, three-turnover night he finished with on Sunday is more concerning.

While some turnovers can come down to good ideas that are poorly executed, there were some head-scratching mistakes in his game.

While Ali wasn’t as highly ranked as Quaintance and Sanon out of high school, he’s shown a good deal of reliability, especially in a wing rotation that has dealt with a lot of inconsistencies.

Ali has also stepped up to be the lead defender in Hurley’s signature press defense, a role that isn’t given lightly.

“He’s very active, and he’s got good wingspan, moves well, so that’s a good situation for him to be in,” Hurley said. “He came in and gave us positive minutes, so that was a really good night for him.”

ASU (4-1) next hosts Cal Poly (3-2) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. MST. Listen to play-by-play coverage on ESPN 620 AM, the Arizona Sports app or ArizonaSports.com.